Ch. 4: The Blood Memory

The air inside the Dominion vaults felt alive.

Every breath Kaelira took tasted faintly metallic, like the walls were breathing with her.

The floor pulsed beneath her boots, veins of light tracing through stone, converging around the runic circle that bore her name.

Zevran’s voice echoed low beside her. “Step back.”

“Why?” she asked, staring at the way her name shimmered. “I want to know what it means.”

“It could be a summoning seal.”

“Then let’s summon some answers.”

Before he could stop her, Kaelira crouched, pressing her palm flat against the rune that glowed brightest — the K.

The world tilted.

Air rushed in reverse.

Zevran’s shout blurred into nothing.

And then—

Silence.

⸻

She was standing in the same chamber, but it wasn’t broken or cold.

Candles floated mid-air, casting gold reflections over polished stone.

The air smelled of jasmine and ozone.

A woman stood at the center of the circle — tall, graceful, and familiar enough to stop Kaelira’s heart.

“Mother?” The word came out a whisper.

The woman turned slowly. She was younger than Kaelira remembered — or maybe time didn’t apply here. The same flame-colored eyes, the same determined jawline Kaelira had inherited.

But her smile… gods, that smile was heavy.

“You shouldn’t have come this soon,” her mother said softly. “The seal wasn’t meant to break.”

“I didn’t mean to,” Kaelira said, stepping forward. “What is this place?”

“A memory. A shadow I left behind in your blood.”

Kaelira’s throat went dry. “You sealed me.”

“I protected you,” her mother corrected. “The Dominion wanted your power for themselves. The Lycan Court wanted you dead. I had one choice — bind your flame until you were strong enough to survive it.”

“Strong enough for what?” Kaelira demanded.

Her mother’s gaze softened, full of sorrow. “For him.”

Behind Kaelira, a voice she knew too well broke the quiet. “She means me.”

Zevran stood in the doorway, silver light wrapping around him like armor. But this wasn’t the same man who’d walked the forest. Here, his presence burned brighter — older — a memory inside her mother’s spell, not the man of now.

Kaelira’s mother smiled faintly. “You found her again.”

He inclined his head. “Too late, it seems.”

“I gave you both a chance,” her mother said, her eyes flicking between them. “But fate is cruel, and kings forget promises when crowns grow heavy.”

Kaelira’s pulse slammed in her ears. “What promise? What is she talking about?”

Neither answered.

“Tell me!” she shouted, voice cracking through the chamber. The candles flickered violently, reacting to her rising power.

Her mother stepped forward, cupping Kaelira’s face with warm, unreal fingers. “You were bound to him before you were born, Kaelira. The Black Moon marked you both to end what our world began — or repeat it.”

“That makes no sense—”

“It will,” her mother whispered. “When the moon bleeds again.”

Kaelira reached for her, desperate — but her mother’s image fractured like glass.

The light shattered.

The world crashed back into noise.

⸻

She gasped, falling hard against the stone floor. Zevran caught her before her head struck the ground.

“Breathe,” he said sharply. “Kaelira. Look at me.”

Her chest heaved. The runes around her flickered out one by one, leaving only the echo of her name burned into the stone.

“What—what was that?” she rasped.

“A memory construct,” Zevran said. “I saw part of it. Your mother encoded her consciousness inside the seal.”

“She said you made a promise,” Kaelira hissed, yanking away from him. “To her.”

He exhaled slowly, as if choosing every word was an act of war. “Before I was King, I was commander of the Dominion guard. We were sent to kill your mother. I didn’t.”

Kaelira froze. “You—”

“She saved my life,” Zevran interrupted. “And in return, I swore to protect hers. But when she realized they would never stop coming for her, she sealed herself—and you—away from both our worlds.”

Kaelira’s mind spun. “You knew who I was this whole time.”

“I suspected,” he admitted. “I didn’t know until you broke the wire.”

Anger twisted in her chest, sharp and ugly. “You lied to me.”

“I withheld the truth,” he corrected coldly. “Lying would have required me to care what you thought.”

That stung more than she wanted to admit.

She stood, brushing dust from her palms. “Then you can keep your truths, Your Majesty. But I’ll find out the rest myself.”

Zevran didn’t stop her when she turned toward the corridor — but his voice followed her, low and lethal. “If you keep walking blind into magic you don’t understand, you’ll burn everything you touch.”

Kaelira glanced back over her shoulder, eyes blazing gold. “Maybe that’s the point.”

⸻

The moment she stepped beyond the vault, the walls groaned. The runes along the ceiling began to shift, re-forming words she couldn’t read but could feel in her bones. The Black Moon sigil spread like ink across the stone.

Zevran appeared beside her, sword drawn. “It’s reacting to you.”

“Or warning me,” she muttered.

From somewhere deep below, a new sound rose — a heartbeat.

Slow, heavy, and not her own.

Zevran’s gaze darted downward. “That isn’t a spell.”

“What is it?”

He met her eyes, the reflection of torchlight burning silver in his pupils. “It’s alive.”

⸻

They turned toward the stairwell as a gust of icy wind surged up from the depths, carrying the unmistakable scent of blood and something metallic, pulsing with rhythm.

Kaelira’s mark blazed against her skin. “Whatever’s down there—”

“—woke up when you touched the seal,” Zevran finished grimly. “And if it bears your name too, it’s not going back to sleep.”